The Show
by hopelesslyhalfhearted
Summary: Marissa never died, she went to Greece. Ryan has become a famous actor, though an unhappy one. He comes home for Christmas. ONE SHOT.
1. Chapter 1

_I'm not sure if I like this very much, I only wrote it because I felt like writing and I didn't feel like my other fic._

_Leave reviews; don't be afraid to say bad stuff. The bad stuff is useful._

_xoxo_

The Show

"Ryan Atwood, ladies and gentlemen!" Shouted the host. The audience clapped and cheered loudly as the entrance music was played and Ryan walked on set. He was greeted by the host, Charlotte Taylor, and then sat down on the black leather sofa. It was incredibly hard and uncomfortable, though it looked otherwise.

"Hey," Ryan said, his eyes looking around the audience.

"Welcome, thanks for coming along today," replied Charlotte.

"It's no problem." Ryan placed one leg over the other and leant back, trying to get comfy. It wasn't just the sofa that was making him uncomfortable, he hated being around lots of people, but most of all he hated talking. He was on a chat show. Your fault for getting famous, he thought to himself.

"You must have a busy schedule, I hear you've started filming your new movie and with the promoting of this one."

"I haven't actually started Dreams yet, but yeah that's all kicking off in a couple of weeks. The promoting for this one is just slowing down, so I'm getting a bit more than the usual 2 hours sleep." The audience laughed, Ryan didn't really know why. He hadn't said anything particularly funny. They thought he was funny they really should meet his brother.

"The movie you're promoting now, Time will Tell, I saw it just last week and I really am stuck with how to describe it. It was just so...beautiful. It was perfect, so perfect. I personally thought it was a better love story than Titanic."

"Well, thank you. Not many times something has you stuck for words." Again the audience laughed. "I think the script was so good, it really helped us as actors."

"You were behind the script as well though, your debut as a writer."

"I was, but I had lots of help. I was never really sure if what I wrote would fit into the character. All the ideas were mine, but I had help from Seth Cohen into converting it into actual words."

"Seth, he is your brother?"

"Not biologically, but we're as good as."

"Was that a reason for you picking him as the person to help you? I mean, he hasn't done any work outside of comics before."

"I wanted him because he could understand me; understand where I was coming from. He probably knows more about me than anyone else and I knew he wouldn't...change the ideas I had."

"I see," Ryan was so tempted to just walk out and leave all this shit behind. Talk shows, publicists, agents; they were all a load of bollocks. "The plot of the story is fascinitating. You start off with a young couple and it sort of tells their lives. They're apart for bits of it, separate in others."

"Yeah, I suppose so. It was never meant to be just a love story, not from my point of view. For me, yes a big part of it was love, but for me I wanted to show what love did to you; the good and the bad. Because of that it deals a lot with other things, growing up, accepting responsibilities, sacrifices, grief. There's so much crammed into it. I never like putting things into categories, because I think everything is seen differently through different people's eyes."

"Did you use some of your own experiences in writing it? Eventually the man in the relationship becomes an actor, wait am I allowed to say that?"

"Yes, it's ok. Well, the boy, he may have been 24 but at the time he was still a boy, becomes an actor because he wants to escape from life, he feels he can get that I acting. When he's on stage or in front of the camera he can become his character, he doesn't have to worry about all the stuff that's going on in his life. I suppose that's also why I became an actor. I didn't want to deal with things, I suppose at the worst time in my life I thought if I was in denial everything would go away, like it never happened."

"What exactly in your life were you not wanting to deal with?"

"My mother who I hadn't seen for over 8 years came back into my life. She was an alcoholic, I can't remember her ever not being one, but she wanted my help to stop. I had to go to all the AA meetings with her, I visited her in rehab. It was a tough time, but in the end I felt proud of her. She had talked to people about her problems, got through them. And I knew I was too cowardly to do it. So instead of talking I just read scripts. Stupidly after 7 years I was still in love with a girl, maybe I still am. I don't know because that is one thing I don't talk about."

"Was the girl inspiration for the film?"

"I suppose, the very early Debra, which is the character's name, is very much like her. And the way Mark, my character in the film, feels about her, the way when we hear his thoughts he is always thinking about her, that is very much how I was. But the Debra who is growing up and the grown up Debra, that's made up. I don't know what the girl has been doing with her life since I last saw her when she was 18, I don't know what she'll be like at 50. But I suppose it is slightly based on how I hope she would be."

"Are you happy with acting?"

"I love acting. I hate everything else. The press, the agents, the promoting, chat shows...sorry about that one." She laughed. "I never see my family. It's what Christmas Eve and I'm sat talking to someone I only met hours previously whilst being watched by people who are more interested in knowing gossip about my life than living their own. If you can't say it at Christmas when can you say it, but I'm afraid that I'm going to end up with people around me who don't care about me, people who care about how much money I'll make them. I feel guilty that I haven't been there for my family. And I'm sorry for that."

"Wow. Ryan Atwood, ladies and gentlemen!" The host screamed again as Ryan walked off stage.

*************************************

A large group of people were sat around the Cohen family living room; mouths wide open as the commercials rolled. Seth had his arm draped over Summer as their 2 year old sat on his knee, Kirsten sat on Sandy's lap on the big leather chair. Julie Cooper sat next to her a daughter on the other sofa.

"I can't believe..." Kirsten started.

"He's never said that much in his life!" Seth exclaimed.

"I know." Kirsten paused. "Sandy I'm worried. He looks so tired all the time, he's not himself. When he visits I noticed he doesn't talk."

"Mom, this is Ryan, he never talks; though it would seem otherwise when he's on national chat shows." Seth said, interrupting his mother.

"But he talks even less than normal Ryan. He just sits in the pool house and when he does come out and be sociable it's obvious he is faking it."

"He plays with Jamie," Seth nodded towards his son.

"I know. Have you seen the way the looks at him though? The way he looks at you and Summer? I know he feels like he's missing something."

"We'll talk to him after Christmas; he's staying till New Year's. For now let's all stay happy. Ok?" Sandy said trying to sound bright.

"Good call Dad." Seth said as his son slithered off his lap and onto the floor and set off in search of the dog.

**************************

They were all sitting, exactly where they had been hours previously, chatting when the doorbell rang. Kirsten got up to answer it, but they had already let themselves in.

"Uncle Ry!" shouted Jamie, running toward the man who appeared at the living room doorway. Ryan instantly dropped his bags and hauled the boy up into his arms.

"You're getting too big now. You'll have to lift me up soon." Ryan teased.

"Don't be silly!" Jamie said back, not quite sure if his Uncle was being serious.

"Hi honey!" Kirsten walked up to her son and gave him a big hug.

"You're late brother!" Seth said, following his Mom in enveloping Ryan in an embrace.

"I stopped off at Dawn's." Ryan didn't find it strange anymore calling his biological mother Dawn and Kirsten Mom. After carefully letting the small boy in his arms down to the ground, Ryan picked up his bags. "Where should I...?"

"In the pool house as always." Sandy beamed at him.

"You want some help?" Ryan just rolled his eyes at Seth's question. Everybody laughed. Ryan noticed a laugh that was familiar, but he one he hadn't heard in a long time.

"Marissa?" Ryan said, just noticing the woman stood next to Julie Cooper. She looked the same, her hair still many shades of brown and blonde, her eyes still beautiful emerald green.

"Hi Ryan,"

"Are you here for...vacation?" Everyone in the room stood still, they were hoping things turned out ok. Last time these two had seen each other they were both left broken hearted.

"I've actually got a job at the surgery. I'm staying at my Mom's until I find a place and she insisted I came with her to spend Christmas with you guys. Apparently she does it every year."

"Yeah, always eating all out food then spewing it back up so she can keep her looks," Seth butted in. Everybody laughed, even Ryan managed a half smile.

"I'm going to go...unpack." Ryan said. He started walking in the direction of the pool house and Jamie was quick to follow.

"Does he always follow him round like that?" Marissa asked.

"Ryan is Jamie's real life super hero." Seth laughed.

********************************

Ryan and Jamie returned half an hour later, Jamie on Ryan's shoulders.

"Let me down you evil pirate!"

"Argh, I'll be making you walk the plank." Ryan said in a pirate voice. "As soon as your Mommy gets you in your swim trunks!"

"Ryan, do it later. We're just about to watch The Notebook!" Summer said, as Sandy fiddled with the DVD player.

"Do you think either of us is that bothered?" Ryan replied and Jamie nodded in agreement.

"It's a Christmas tradition, now plonk your bottom down and let my son free." Jamie's smile fell. "He can capture you again later."

"I don't want later. I want NOW!" Jamie cried, tears rolling down his cheeks, as Ryan lifted him down. "I never get to see Ry Ry unless he's on the box!" Everybody laughed at Jamie's word for the television.

"Come on we'll do what your Mom says." Jamie still sobbed. "Hey, come on. I tell you what. Shall we see if Grandma's got any popcorn?"

"I don't want popcorn. I want Ry Ry."

"Hey, you can sit on my knee. We can laugh at Daddy crying!" Jamie smiled and Ryan picked him up and placed him on his knee when he sat down. "Why is it a tradition to watch this film?"

"I know they could have chosen a better one, right?" Sandy grunted as he sat down.

"Of all the films out there you choose Notebook. You've got a whole trilogy of Saw films, millions of war films. I dare say millions of action one's too. Sandy we really should stand up to the women more."

"I don't know what you're laughing at Chino. You've been in a fair few romantic films."

"But you see none of them are chick flicks!" Ryan replied.

"Sadly that is true. I hear the new one is being called the best film ever made...ever written." She added the last part on as she gave Seth a peck on the cheek. "Tipped to absolutely wipe the floor at the Oscars. And to think you didn't even get us, your family, premiere tickets."

"I never get you premiere tickets."

"I know, why?"

"Because they're horrible."

"Why?"

"For me going to the cinema was always something done with friends. Shared with people you love. But the people that go to premieres are only there to show off their new frock or to promote something or other. It's a load of..."

"Ryan, Jamie's in the room." Kirsten cut into his sentence before he could say the swear word she knew would have come out.

"Sorry."

"What if I want to show off my new frock?" Why couldn't Summer just leave it, Ryan thought to himself.

"Summer, you walk down that carpet with cameras flashing in your face and all you want is to be at home. You sit watching the movie when you realise you would rather have waited a few weeks and seen it with your family, in a place you didn't feel embarrassed to laugh or cry."

"Oh." Summer was lost for words, Ryan really did seem down.

"I hear you were getting chummy with the lovely Taylor Swift?" Seth said cheerfully.

"Yes she is lovely, but not in that way. We're friends. She's working on the soundtrack to Dreams."

"You know you really should invite some of these people over sometime."

"Seth, you met most of the people I know when you helped me with the script."

"Yeah, but these guys haven't! It would be so cool if you could get someone like Tom Hanks to come. Jamie would love it!"

"Is Tom Hanks Woody?" Jamie asked innocently.

"Yes, J." Seth answered.

"Could you get him to come Ry Ry! PLEASE!" Jamie pleaded.

"Thanks Seth." Ryan said, the room erupted with laughter at the sight of Jamie's begging and how once again Seth had got Ryan into a sticky situation.

"Who would you like to see most?" It was the first time Marissa had spoken; she directed her question at Summer.

"I really don't know! Maybe Ryan Gosling, what about you?"

"Definitely Adam Sandler! He's hilarious, plus I read somewhere that he was a really nice guy. What about you Seth?"

"Of the ones I haven't met already. Has to be Whoopi Goldberg, she makes me laugh my head OFF!"

"Ryan what about you? Favourite person you've ever met?" Summer asked.

"Favourite celebrity? Adam Sandler. He was like my acting Dad on my first film." Ryan replied. "Favourite person? Any of you guys."

"That's so sweet!" Summer exclaimed. Ryan gave a slight smile.

"Can we get this movie over with?" Sandy moaned.

"You love it really," Kirsten teased as she pressed play.

************************************************

Christmas seemed to be behind them in a flash and soon Kirsten was running around getting things ready for the New Year's party she was hosting later that day.

"How many people did you say you were bringing Ryan?" Kirsten asked as he appeared carrying heavy boxes of champagne into the large hall, it was the same place the debutant had taken place 12 year previously. She had thought it was weird him inviting people, he never had talked about anyone in particular. But she didn't say anything; Ryan seemed to have been happier the past week and she didn't want to ruin that.

"Well, 3 and they're each bringing their better halves so 6 altogether."

"And do you want them to sit with you?"

"Arrange 4 spare places on Seth and Summer's table and 2 on Marissa's unless they're all sat together, if so have 6 spare seats on that table."

"Ok," Kirsten thought it was odd that Ryan's friends would want to sit with people they had never met before, but again she kept her thoughts to herself. "There are only 10 places to a table so that would mean you'd have to sit on that table as well."

"Cause I'm the only single guy?"

"Exactly." They both laughed as Ryan set down the crate of champagne. "But who knows by the end of the night you might not be!" Ryan rolled his eyes at her and went out to collect more of the heavy objects he had been given the job to carry.

*****************************************************

Newport's elite arrived at the hall, all precisely on time. Kirsten and Sandy greeted them, complementing their clothes, which all cost a fortune, and their looks, which for the plastic women probably also cost a fortune. Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa were all sat at their table.

"Why can't you tell us who these people are?" Summer asked, she'd been badgering Ryan every second of the day to know who they were as soon as she had found at he was inviting people.

"Because that would ruin the surprise." Ryan grinned.

"You're not fair Chino. So why you invite them?"

"They didn't have anything else planned, and I thought you'd like them."

"Oh really." Ryan surveyed the room and soon noticed what he was looking for.

"Oh, they're here. I'll go get them." Ryan stood up and walked over to the huddle of 6 adults in the corner.

"Hi, we're over here. They don't know it's you so please excuse my sister-in-law if she jumps on any of you...excuse my brother as well, he gets very excited." They made their way over to the table.

"He's the one who wrote the script, right?" The tallest man asked.

"Yeah," Ryan had reached the table. "Hi," Ryan's three friend's mouth's dropped open wide. Stood in front of them were Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler and Ryan Gosling; along with their partners.

"Chino I LOVE you!!!" Summer screamed ecstatically. They all sat down and began talking.

Dinner was served and eaten, chatter was exchanged and soon midnight was only 10 minutes away. Ryan decided to slip outside for a bit of fresh air before the celebrations truly began. Little did he know Seth and Summer were following close behind him. He saw Marissa, stood in exactly the same spot she had been on the night she found out about her Father, only this time in a red dress. She still looked equally beautiful. Ryan briefly considered turning back, but decided against it. He walked down the steps and along the path to the bench. He stood beside her.

"Hi," He said softly. She turned her head and then looked back out toward the beach.

"Hey. Need some air?" She replied.

"Yeah, you?"

"Same." All the time Seth and Summer were observing them from the doorway. "So, I can't believe you got them to come."

"Was Adam as nice as you hoped?"

"He was better. And Summer's face when she saw Ryan Gosling, it was hilarious. She's probably still asking the poor guy questions about The Notebook." Ryan chuckled. "I'm sorry that we lost contact," She turned her whole body to face him.

"I'm sorry we were ever separated to lose contact." He replied turning just as she had done. They both leaned in at the same time. It was the best kiss ever. It had more feeling behind it than anything other either had experience. It wasn't passionate, it was soft, but it still had every feeling in it.

For once Seth resisted the temptation to shout out, the moment was just too perfect. He put his arm around Summer and watched destiny.

"It's nearly midnight." Ryan whispered.

"A New Year." She whispered back.

"Can I see you?"

"I can't do this Ryan."

"I'm quite scared now. You are joking, right?" She laughed and pulled him in for another kiss.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you Ryan."

"I need to spend the rest of my life with you."


	2. Chapter 2

_good people of the world._

_read._

_any of these stories that your patiently waiting to be updated (i think one of them hasn't been updated in quite a few months) will be updated in due course. most of them have half finished chapters that i just cant seem to finish._

_well anyway._

_i have this huge thing in my mind. it's going to be huge._

_it's so huge that i made a blog for it._

_it has some images, showing each of the charcters. _

_alongside them are sort of cryptic things saying the relationships between the characters._

_just type _

_orangesunsets_

_._

_tumblr_

_._

_com_

_all in one._

_please._

_for me?_


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